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Topic: late supercedure? (Read 823 times)

I was checking feeders today & pulled a couple frames in one hive. there were 3 frames with sealed brood & on 1 frame had a sealed queen cell. 2 days ago I did see a queen in this hive. I was short on time so I did not go any further. I'll look for the queen &/or eggs on sunday. But-if this queen cell hatches what are the odds of her successfully mating now. I haven't seen a drone in my hives for at least 2 weeks. if there are no drones around might she mate in the spring? If I find the queen on Sunday I might just tear down the queen cell.

most of your questions are better answered by people in your area, but that queen cell stands a good chance of being hatched out by sunday.

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But-if this queen cell hatches what are the odds of her successfully mating now.

I haven't seen a drone in my hives for at least 2 weeks. if there are no drones around

might she mate in the spring? If I find the queen on Sunday I might just tear down the queen cell.

you surely can buy a new laying queen from area.

The queen can mate only at the age of 7-30 days.

If you tear queen cells down, they build new and hive will queenless later.

.A week ago in Finland guys wrote on forum that they have tens of extra queens in their mating hives, and guys destroy the queens and join the bees into some wintering hive. Now we have frost and snow in half of Finland.

It surely same in your area. Beekeepers have extra queens. Buy such.

I suppose that you will have lots of sunny warm days out ther in subtropic.

I just went thru that hive. found the queen, found eggs, & 3 full frames & some partial frames of brood. I went ahead & destroyed the queen cell. it did have a larva in it. I've decided to let the hive run t's course. the closest bred queen is 100 miles away. last year I tried ( twice ) to re-queen a strong hive at this time of year. the 2nd queen did take but was gone by November. I'm not going to waste my time ,gas & a maybe a queen this late in the year. I just finished treating for mites so maybe the hive interpreted the queen's lull in laying as failing to do her job. Anyway- since I'm feeding I'm in the hives every 3 days so I'll keep an eye on the situation.

finski- i'm not doubting your expertise. i'm just not willing to invest the time in a 240 mile round trip & the expense of buying a queen on what appears to be a weak hive at this time of year. isn't it possible that the existing queen will survive? if not & I end up with a drone laying queen will the hive recognize her as a queen so I can replace her with an early California queen in the spring? if not, if the existing queen does not survive i'll combine the hive with another.

I just went thru that hive. found the queen, found eggs, & 3 full frames & some partial frames of brood. I went ahead & destroyed the queen cell. it did have a larva in it. I've decided to let the hive run t's course. the closest bred queen is 100 miles away. last year I tried ( twice ) to re-queen a strong hive at this time of year. the 2nd queen did take but was gone by November. I'm not going to waste my time ,gas & a maybe a queen this late in the year. I just finished treating for mites so maybe the hive interpreted the queen's lull in laying as failing to do her job. Anyway- since I'm feeding I'm in the hives every 3 days so I'll keep an eye on the situation.

Letting the hive 'run its course' and destroying that Q cell are not quite the same thing. Allowing the colony to do its own thing 'may' have resulted in a drone laying queen within a month or so but that wouldn't mean much right now. They will use valuable resourses to build another.

As the Fin said; simply waiting until Spring to replace your laying queen and/or a 'possible' drone layer would be OK.

Winter is coming after all ............its already here in some places :)

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